EA?LY  DAYS  OF   PEORIA    AND    CHICAGO 


AN  ADDRESS 


READ  BEFORE  THE 


CHICAGO    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY 


AT  A 


QUARTERLY  MEETING  HELD  JANUARY  19,  1904 


BY 


DAVID  MCCUXJI.OCH: 


I 


0 

«*    OT 


E 
*. 


EARLY  DAYS  OFIPEORIA  AND  CHICAGO- 


It  was  long  ago  said  that  one  of  two  things  only  can 
ju'stify  the  attetmpt  of  any  author  to  deal  anew  with  annals 
already  well  known;  either  the  writer  must  be  confident 
he  can  tell  'his  story  in  better  form  than  his  predecessors, 
or  he  must  believe  himself  able  to  add  new  and  valuable 
{acts.  It  is,  'however,  with  no  thought  that  I  can  do  either 
of  these  that  I  venture  to  appear  before  this  intelligent 
audience;  but  having  recently  been  engaged  in  the  com- 
pilation of  a  history  of  my  own  county  which  brought  to 
light  many  incidents  closely  associating  Chicago  and  Pe- 
oria,  as  villages  almost  contemporaneous  in  their  origin, 
it  occurred  to  me  that  it  might  serve  a  useful  purpose  to 
collect  these  incidents  for  preservation  in  a  more  con- 
densed form  for  tihe  use  of  this  society.  And  while  the 
incident's  I  shall  relate  may,  in  view  of  the  vast  amount 
of  'historical  matter  stowed  away  in  your  archives,  seem 
at  present  of  little  importance,  yet  as  the  rills  when  col- 
lected together  make  the  river,  so  every  little  strap  of  in- 
a_,-  formation  regarding  its  formative  period,  although  gleaned 
from  the  rural  districts,  may  in  time  contribute  its  mite  to 
the  great  volume  of  the  (history  of  this  mighty  metropolis. 
From  time  immemorial  the  Illinois  River  has  been 
the  natural  highway  between  the  great  lakes  and  the  Mis- 
sissippi River.  This  fact  has  kept  the  region  about  Chi- 
m  cago  and  that  around  Lake  Peoria  in  very  close  relation- 
Ship  with  each  other.  Long  before  any  considerable  white 
population  had  become  domiciled  at  Chicago  there  existed 
on  the  west  bank  of  Lake  Pimiteoui  or  Lake  Peoria  a  vil- 
lage Which  had  attained  unto  such  a  degree  of  commercial 
importance  as  to  be  regarded  one  of  the  chief  marts  of 
trade  in  the  Mississippi  valley;  sending  a  portion  of  its 
products  by  the  hands  of  voyageurs  by  way  of  the  Chicago 
v  River,  thence  down  the  great  lakes  to  the  cities  located 
on  the  St.  Lawrence  River.  It  had  a  fort,  one  or  two 
churches,  a  horse-mill,  a  wine-press,  and  numerous  trad- 
ing houses,  while,  near  by,  its  inhabitants  had  their  little 
farms,  Where  they  raised  wheat,  corn,  beef  and  pork,  more 

13846 


than  they  needed.  A  portion  of  their  surplus  produo 
and  possibly  the  larger  portion,  went  by  the  Illinois  Riv 
to  the  settlements  on  the  lower  Mississippi.  This  villa] 
had  grown  out  of  an  admixture  of  French  traders  ai 
trappers  with  the  Indians,  until  in  the  course  of  time  f 
French  element  had  become  predominant,  and  it  had  t 
come  known  as  the  French  Village  of  Peoria.  For 
period  during  the  Revolutionary  War  it  was  almost  who! 
abandoned,  and  upon  the  return  of  the  inhabitants  ?Jt 
peace  was  restored  they  took  up  their  residences  at  a  n< 
village  called  La  Ville  de  Maillet,  which  had  been  plant 
about  half  a  league  below  at  the  foot  of  the  lake.  Tl 
new  enterprise  'had  been  started  about  the  year  17/8,  i 
one  Jean  Baptist  e  Maillet,  who  as  early  as  1766  is  kno\ 
to  have  been  a  resident  of  the  older  village.  At  the  c 
village  there  had  been  an  ancient  fort,  supposed  by  so<r 
to  have  been  erected  in  the  times  of  La  Salle  and  Ton 
but  which  had  fallen  into  decay  and  tfiad  been  burned  > 
the  Indians  a  few  years  before.  During  the  Revolution 
fort  had  been  erected  at  the  new  village,  but  it  had  had 
short  history,  for  about  the  year  1778  or  1779  it  had  be 
destroyed  by  a  detachment  of  soldiers  sent  from  Fc 
Mackinac  by  way  of  Chicago  by  De  Peyster,  the  coi 
mandant.  This  was  to  prevent  its  becoming  a  rallyii 
point  for  the  "Virginia  Long  Knives,"  who  had  but  i 
cently  subdued  the  territory. 

Chicago  had  not  as  yet  attained  unto  any  importan 
as  a  village,  although  it  also  had  'had  a  fort  supposed 
have  been  erected  by  the  French  at  some  early  perk 
Yet  the  Chicago  River  even  at  these  early  times  fi: 
nished  the  gateway  by  which  Peorians  maintained  coi 
mercial  relations,  in  a  small  way,  with  the  merchants  ai 
traders  of  the  east,  who  in  exchange  for  their  furs,  peltri< 
honey,  beeswax,  wheat,  corn,  wine  and  salt  pork  broug 
to  the  great  Mississippi  valley  such  kinds  of  merchandise 
were  suitable  for  the  aborigines,  the  French  traders,  tra 
pers  and  voyageurs,  their  wives  and  (possibly  'half-bree 
children. 

The  first  authoritative  recognition  of  the  relati 
importance  of  the  two  places  is  probably  that  found 
the  treaty  of  Greenville,  concluded  in  August,  1795,  wher 
in,  from  the  great  desire  of  the  Indians  to  provide  f 
the  accommodation  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  ai 
for  that  convenience  of  intercourse  which  should  be  ben 


ficial  to  both  the  'high  contracting  parties,  the  Indians 
ceded  to  the  United  States  sixteen  posts  or  stations  form- 
ing a  chain  from  Detroit  to  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  River 
by  way  of  the  great  lakes.  One  of  these  posts  consisted  of 
a  piece  of  land  six  miles  square  at  the  mouth  of  the  Chi- 
cago river,  emptying  into  the  southwest  end  of  Lake 
Michigan,  where  a  fort  'had  formerly  stood;  another  con- 
sisted of  a  piece  of  land  six  miles  square  at  "Old  Peoria's 
Port  and  Village,"  near  the  south  end  of  the  Illinois  Lake 
on  the  said  Illinois  River.  It  was  further  provided  that  the 
Indian  tribes  would  allow  the  people  of  the  United  States 
a  free  passage  by  land  and  water,  as  one  or  the  other 
should  be  found  convenient,  through  their  country  along 
the  chain  of  posts  therein  mentioned,  particular  reference 
being  made  to  the  route  from  the  mouth  of  the  Chicago 
River  to  the  commencement  of  the  portage  'between  that 
river  and  the  Illinois,  and  down  .the  latter  to  the  Mississip- 
pi Where  the  last  post  was  located. 

A  few  years  after  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War, 
by  several  resolutions  and  acts  of  Congress,  each  person 
who  had  professed  himself  a  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
or  one  of  them,  on  or  before  the  year  1783,  and  had 
m'ade  improvements  upon  lands,  or  who  'had  been  the  head 
of  a  family  at  that  time,  should  receive  a  donation  of  four 
hundred  acres  of  land.  A  commission  was  afterwards  ap- 
pointed to  receive  proof  of  such  claims,  who  under  various 
names  continued  to  act  in  that  capacity  until  the  year 
1815.  Among  many  others  there  was  one  who,  by  the 
name  of  Poinstalble,  Point  au  Sable,  or  Point  de  Saible, 
made  proof  that  both  before  and  after  the  year  1783  he 
had  resided  at  Peoria,  that  he  was  the  head  of  a  family  and 
thaf  he  had  improved  a  small  farm  of  about  thirty  acres 
situated  between  the  old  Fort  and  Village  and  La  Ville 
de  Maillet  as  early  as  the  year  1780.  He  was  therefore  re- 
ported as  being  entitled  to  two  tracts  of  four  hundred 
acres  each.  He  must  also  have  proved  his  citizenship, 
else  he  could  not  have  claimed  the  land.  The  printed 
report  fails  to  show  the  number  of  persons  constituting 
his  family,  or  what  relationship  they  bore  to  him.  This 
man  was  afterwards  found  at  Chicago,  where  he  has  at- 
tained unto  some  celebrity  as  its  first  European  inhabi- 
tant. He  must  'have  been  a  man  of  some  versatility  of 
character,  for  being  of  the  African  race,  he  could  easily 
adapt  'himself  to  his  present  environments.  Being  a  native 

91 


of  San  Domingo,  he  was  by  nationality  a  Spaniard;  as 
inhabitant  of  a  French  village,  he  had  adopted  a  Frei 
name  and  possibly  passed  as  a  French  negro ;  when  oc 
sion  presented  itself,  'he  'became  an  American  citizen,  a 
if  reports  be  true  would,  if  he  could,  have  become  a  Pol 
wattamie  chief.  At  what  time  he  made  his  appearance 
Chicago  is  a  point  upon  which  writers  differ,  some  putt: 
it  before  1780,  at  wihich  time  he  is  proved  to  have  been 
Peoria,  and  some  at  a  later  date.  In  May,  1790,  < 
Hugh  Heyward  (a  copy  of  whose  journal  is  in  the  poss 
sion  of  this  society),  made  a  trip  to  the  Illinois  counl 
reaching  the  Chicago  River  on  the  loth  of  that  mon 
where  he  found  Point  de  Saible  living  on  the  sands, 
his  journal  of  the  day  following  he  says :  "Slept  at  PC 
Sables  with  the  canoes  and  'began  to  hull  corn  and  b; 
bread;  arranged  everything  for  the  next  morning,  '. 
the  canots  (canoes)  at  Point  Sables  and  took  his  porog 
bought  of  him  41  Ibs  flour  and  baked  in  bread  25  &  29 
pork  at  2-8,  the  whole  amounting  to  5  pounds  10  s 
paid  him  with  13  yds  4  -  4  cotton."  According  to  t 
account  Point  de  Saible  must  have  been  a  trader,  selli 
farm  produce  to  the  voyageurs  and  purchasing  dry  goc 
from  them  in  return.  The  prices  seem  to  have  been  bet 
in  those  days  than  on  the  Board  of  Trade  of  to-day,  e\ 
in  times  of  a  corner  in  wheat  or  pork. 

Heyward  proceeded  on  his  journey  by  way   of 
portage  and  the  Illinois  River  to  Peoria,  where  he  fot 
a  few  Frenchmen  living  among  the  Indians,  one  of  wh< 
was  Captain  May,  doubtless  Jean  Baptiste  Maillet,  wh< 
name  in  French  is  said  to  have  a  sound  much  resembli 
May  or  Mai.    He  had  derived  his  title  as  Captain  from 
having  had  command  of  a  company  of  French  mill 
raised  at  Peoria  during  or  after  the  war,  for  which  send 
he  was  afterwards  awarded  a  donation  of  one  hundi 
acres  of  land. 

The  name  approaches  so  near  that  of  Le  Mai,  \v 
succeeded  Point  de  Saible  at  Chicago,  as  to  raise  I 
probability  of  some  relationship  existing  between  the 
As  there  appear  to  have  been  more  than  one  of  the  Mail 
family,  it  is  not  beyond  the  reach  of  probability  that  the 
Mai  of  Chicago  may  also  have  sprung  from  a  family  livi 
at  old  Peoria,  where  the  name  appears  as  early  as  1761. 

Another  prominent  citizen  of  La  Ville  de  Maillet  v 
Thomas  Forsyth,  a  half  brother,  and  at  one  time,  parti 


in  business  with  John  Kinzie,  who  is  looked  upon  as  the 
real  founder  of  Chicago.  In  the  Indian  troubles  preceding 
and  during  the  early  stages  of  'the  war  of  1812  he  was  the 
Government  Agent  at  Peoria,  and  was  the  secret  and  con- 
fidential adviser  of  Governor  Edwards  in  his  dealings  with 
the  Indians  at  and  about  Peoria  Lake.  After  the  massacre 
of  the  garrison  of  Fort  Dearborn,  Thomas  Forsyth,  as- 
sisted by  Black  Partridge  and  other  friendly  Indians,  ren- 
dered valuable  services  in  rescuing  Lieutenant  Helm  from 
his  captivity.  In  the  month  of  October,  following,  and 
probably  at  the  very  time  he  was  rendering  this  assistance, 
Governor  Edwards  led  an  expedition  across  the  prairies 
from  Camp  Russell,  near  Edwardsville,  to  the  head  of  Lake 
Peoria,  and  there  destroyed  Black  Partridge's  village.  As 
part  of  the  same  expedition,  one  Captain  Thomas  E.  Craig, 
with  a  force  of  men,  ascended  the  Illinois  River  by  boats 
to  Peoria,  and  there,  mistaking  the  reserved  attitude  of 
Forsyth  and  the  Frenchmen  for  one  of  hostility  to  the 
Government,  in  a  very  brutal  and  wanton  manner,  de- 
stroyed about  one-half  of  the  village  and  carried  away 
captive  Forsyth  an'd  all  the  inhabitants  that  were  found. 
Forsyth  afterwards  rendered  valuable  service  as  Agent  of 
the  Government  among  the  Indians  on  the  upper  Miss- 
issippi, and  still  later  took  up  his  residence  in  St.  Louis, 
where  he  continued  to  reside  during  the  remainder  of 
his  life,  and  where  his  descendants  may  yet  be  found  among 
the  most  respected  citizens  of  that  city. 

During  the  summer  of  Uhe  year  1813,  a  second  expedi- 
tion was  sent  against  the  Indians  about  Peoria,  which  re- 
sulted in  the  destruction  by  the  Indians  of  what  had  been 
left  of  La  Ville  de  Maillet,  and  the  erection  upon  its  site 
of  an  American  fort,  called  Fort  Clark,  the  third,  if  not  the 
fourth,  fort  erected  at  that  place.  From  that  time  for 
many  years  the  place  was  called  Fort  Clark,  and  the  coun- 
try around  it  was  called  the  Fort  Clark  Country. 

Another  person  of  note  who,  before  as  well  as  after  its 
destruction,  was  a  resident  of  La  Ville  de  Maillet,  was 
Antoine  des  Champs,  who  for  many  years  was  the  trusted 
agent  of  the  American  Fur  Company.  He  is  first  found 
exercising  the  duties  of  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace  of 
the  Indiana  Territory  at  Peoria  in  the  year  1802.  He  had 
been  educated  for  the  priesthood,  but  refusing  to  be  or- 
dained, had  engaged  hirriself  to  a  Mr.  Sara,*  a  fur  trader 
of  St.  Louis,  and  had  devoted  many  years  of  his  life  to  that 


trade  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers.  A  deed  fi 
land  is  yet  extant  wherein  Jean  Baptiste  Maillet  conve; 
to  Isaac  Darneille,  the  gallant  attorney  whom  Govern* 
Reynolds  has  immortalized,  his  two  donations  of  four  hu: 
dred  acres  each  adjoining  the  village  where  they  both  live 
which  deed  was  proved  before  Antoine  des  Champs  as  Ju 
tice  of  the  Peace.  As  there  was  in  its  later  years  no  prie 
at  the  village,  he  was  often  called  upon  as  Justice  of  tl 
Peace  to  perform  the  marriage  ceremony,  which  held  goc 
until  the  newly-married  couple  should  have  gone  to  C 
hokia,  or  some  other  southern  settlement,  to  partake 
the  communion,  at  which  time  'the  holy  sacrament  of  ma 
riage  would  be  solemnized  by  the  priest  before  the  eel 
bration  of  the  communion.  About  the  year  1818  Antoii 
des  Champs  entered  the  service  of  the  American  Fur  Cor 
pany,  and  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  Illinois  brigade  i 
outfit.  Being  about  to  take  a  trip  to  St.  Louis  to  pu 
chase  tobacco  and  other  supplies  for  distribution  amor 
the  traders  on  the  Illinois  River,  he  took  with  him  Gurdc 
S.  Hubbard,  of  Chicago,  who  was  then  a  youth  of  sixte* 
years.  On  this  trip  he  established  several  trading  pos 
along  the  river,  one  of  which  was  located  at  what  is  knov 
as  Wesley  City,  about  three  miles  below  the  city  of  Peori 
This  locality  'had  for  many  years  been  called  Opa,  su 
posed  to  be  from  au  pied,  the  French  word  for  the  foot 
outlet  of  the  lake.  As  it  was  the  first  trading  post  esta 
lished  in  this  vicinity  since  the  destruction  of  La  Ville  < 
Maillet,  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  quote  what  Mr.  Hu 
bard  says  of  it  in  his  autobiography : 

"Our  next  post,"  he  says,  "was  located  about  thr 
miles  below  Lake  Peoria,  and  about  sixty  miles  fro 
Bureau,  and  was  placed  in  charge  of  old  Mr.  Beason, 
venerable  man  who  had  long  been  a  trader  on  the  riv< 
and  who  was  well  and  favorably  known  by  the  Indiar 
This  we  called  Opa  Post. 

"As  we  rounded  the  point  of  the  lake  a)bove  Peoi 
we  discovered  that  old  Fort  Clark  was  on  fire,  and  up< 
reaching  it  we  found  Indians,  to  the  number  of  about  tv 
hundred,  engaged  in  a  war  dance.  They  were  hideous 
painted  and  had  scalps  on  their  spears  and  sashes,  whii 
they  had  taken  from  Americans  during  the  war  with  Gre 
Britain,  from  1812  to  1815."  While  des  Champs  was  hoi 
ing  an  interview  with  the  Indians  away  from  the  boat,  Hu 
bard  was  grossly  insulted  by  a  young  brave,  which  car 
near  costing  one  or  the  other  of  them  his  life. 


'_  navmg  compicieu  men  'uusmcss  cti  jn,  J-,<_M-U»,  uca 
Champs  and  his  party  started  on  their  return  about  the 
2Oth  day  of  November,  1818,  and  after  stopping  at  Opa 
Post,  reached  Bureau  Station,  opposite  the  present  city 
of  Hennepin,  about  the  middle  of  December.  Remaining 
there  until  the  middle  of  March,  1819,  they  started  for 
Mackinac,  where  they  arrived  in  the  month  of  May.  It 
was  while  they  were  on  this  return  journey,  and  on  April 
15,  1819,  the  first  permanent  American  settlers  arrived  at 
Fort  Clark,  now  the  city  of  Peoria.  The  first  two  of  the 
party  of  seven  came  on  horseback,  the  others  by  boat. 
Arriving  at  Fort  Clark,  a  deserter  from  Fort  Dearborn 
came,  gliding  by  in  Ms  canoe.  Taking  passage  with  him, 
one  of  the  first  arrivals  accompanied  him  until  he  met 
with  the  remainder  of  'his  own  party,  with  whom  he  re- 
turned to  the  fort. 

The  individual  cases  already  mentioned  were  but  the 
harbingers  of  the  great  populations  which  were  soon  to 
flow  in  and  take  possession  of  the  broad  prairie  lands  and 
waterways  of  Illinois,  now  the  abodes  of  millions  of  indus- 
trious, frugal  and  intelligent  people.  Looking  backwards 
from  our  present  point  of  view,  one  might  suppose  the 
roots  of  our  civil  institutions  were  to  be  found  in.  the 
Eastern  States,  from  which  so  large  a  percentage  of  the 
present  population  of  this  great  city  have  immigrated. 
It  requires  but  a  moment's  reflection,  however,  to  become 
convinced  that  for  this  branch  of  our  history  we  must  look 
southward. 

About  the  time  when  the  first  American  set- 
tlers came  to  Fort  Clark,  as  the  locality  was  then 
called,  ^Illinois  was  admitted  into  the  Union  of  the 
States.,  j  It  would  be  useless  to  follow  the  course  of  events 
which  first  included  both  Peoria  and  Chicago  within  the 
county  of  "Illinois"  under  the  Government  of  Virginia,  the 
county  of  "St.  Clair"  under  the  Indiana  Territory,  or  the 
county  of  "Madison"  under  the  Illinois  Territory,  for,  al- 
though the  sites  of  these  cities  were  located  within  those 
counties  at  one  time  or  another,  yet,  inasmuch  as  there 
were  few  people  here  to  enjoy  the  benefits  or  be  subject 
to  the  restrictions  of  civil  government,  it  could  make  little 
difference  whether  or  not  there  existed  any  civil  govern- 
ment. It  may  be  noted,  however,  that  upon  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Illinois  Territory,  in  1809,  Antoine  des  Champs, 
of  Peoria,  was  reappointed  Justice  of  the  Peace  of  St.  Clair 
County. 

95 


I 

By  Act  of  the  Legislature  of  1821,  the  county  of  Pike- 
was  erected  out  of  and  embracing  all  the  territory  lyinf 
west  and  north  of  the  Illinois  and  Kankakee  Riven,  ex- 
tending to  the  Wisconsin  State  line.  For  the  two  yean 
during  which  Peoria  and  Chicago  were  under  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  Pike  County,  the  following  persons  held  the  respec- 
tive offices,  namely :  Abram  Buck,  Judge  of  the  Probatt 
Court,  commissioned  February  12,  1821,  resigned  and  wa| 
succeeded  February  15,  1823.  by  William  Ross,  at  the  time 
of  the  organization  of  Fulton  County.  At  an  election  held 
April  20,  1821,  Leonard  Ross,  John  Shaw  and  William 
Ward  were  elected  County  Commissioners,  Bigelow  C. 
Fenton,  Sheriff,  and  Daniel  Whipplc,  Coroner.  At  the 
general  election  held  August  5,  1822,  James  Sibley,  David 
Dalton  and  Ossian  M.  Ross  were  elected  County  Commis- 
sioners, Leonard  Ross,  Sheriff,  and  Daniel  Whipple,  Cor- 
oner. During  the  same  period  the  following  named  per* 
sons  were  appointed  and  received  commissions  as  Justices 
of  the  Peace  of  the  new  county:  Abner  Eads,  of  Peoria; 
John  Shaw,  Daniel  Whipple,  William  Ross.  Henry  Tupper, 
Leonard  Ross.  William  Ward,  who  were  commissioned  at 
the  organization  of  the  county.  February  3.  1821 ;  Eben- 
ezer  Smith,  Stephen  Dewey,  commissioned  May  26,  1821 ; 
John  Bolter,  on  November  29,  1821 ;  Charles  B.  Rouse, 
January  22,  1822,  and  Amos  Bancroft,  May  22,  1822.  These 
men  wielded  civil  jurisdiction  over  that  vast  territory  em- 
bracing one-third  of  the  State,  but  as  yet,  so  far  as  known, 
Chicago  had  no  representative  in  the  civil  government, 
and  Peoria  had  but  one,  in  the  person  of  Abner  Eads,  one 
of  her  first  settlers. 

It  is  a  matter  of  importance  to  notice  at  this  point 
that  by  this  same  Legislature  of  1821,  the  county  of  San- 
g-amon  was  erected,  embracing  within  its  boundaries  all 
the  territory  north  of  its  present  boundaries  and  between 
the  Third  Principal  Meridian  and  the  Illinois  River,  a  por- 
tion of  which  afterwards  became  attached  to  the  county 
of  Peoria. 

By  an  Act  of  the  Legislature  of  January  23,  1823,  the 
county  of  Fulton  was  carved  out  of  the  county  of  Pike,  with 
boundaries  somewhat  larger  than  its  present  limits,  but 
it  was  provided  that  all  the  rest  and  residue  of  the  attached 
county  of  Pike  lying  east  of  the  Fourth  Principal  Meridian 
should  be  attached  to  and  be  a  part  of  said  county  of  I- 
ton,  until  otherwise  disposed  of  by  the  General  Assembly. 


This  attachment  brought  all  the  territory  north  of  Fulton 
County  and  east  of  the  Fourth  Principal  Meridian,  and 
north  and  west  of  the  Illinois  and  Kankakce  Rivers,  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  Fulton  County,  all  west  of  the  Fourth 
Principal  Meridian  remaining  attached  to  Pike  County 
as  before.  Hugh  R.  Coulter  was  appointed  Judge  of  the 
Probate  Court,  and,  at  an  election  held  near  the  site  of 
the  present  city  of  Lewiston,  on  April  14,1823,  John  Mof- 
fatt  David  W.  Barnes  and  Thomas  R.  Covell  were  chosen 
County  Commissioners,  Abner  Eads,  of  Peoria,  Sheriff, 
and  William  Clark,  Coroner.  These  were  succeeded  in 
August,  1824,  by  James  Gardner,  James  Barnes  and  David 
W.  Barnes,  as  County  Commissioners,  Ossian  M.  Ross, 
Sheriff,  and  Joseph  Moffatt,  Coroner.  At  the  organization 
of  the  county,  January  23,  1823,  John  Hamiin,  of  Peoria, 
Samuel  Fulton,  Stephen  Chase,  Hugh  R.  Coulter,  on  June 
17,  1823,  Amhurst  C.  Hanson  and  William  Eads,  and  on 
December  2,  1823,  John  Kinzie,  of  Chicago,  were  appoint- 
ed and  commissioned  as  Justices  of  the  Peace.  John  Kin- 
zie seems  to  have  been  the  first  civil  officer  in  Chicago. 
By  these  men  were  our  local  affairs  administered  during 
the  period  that  both  Peoria  and  Chicago  were  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  Fulton  County. 

During  this  period  some  personal  incidents  worthy 
of  notice,  as  illustrative  of  the  times,  transpired.  In  1823 
one  Elijah  Wentworth.  formerly  of  the  State  of  Maine, 
came  to  Fulton  County  and  settled  near  where  Lewiston 
now  is.  He  had  three  sons.  Hiram.  Elijah  and  George,  and 
four  daughters,  Lucy,  Eliza  (Polly),  Sophia  and  Susan. 
The  father  was  a  shoemaker,  his  sons  farmers,  while  his 
wife  and  daughters  carried  on  an  extensive  business  in 
Hie  manufacture  of  buckskin  gloves  and  mittens,  and  buck- 
eye and  straw  hats,  with  which  they  supplied  not  only  the 
local  market,  but  sold  gloves  and  hats  at  Peoria,  Spring- 
field and  other  distant  markets. 

Among  the  earliest  settlers  of  Fort  Dark  were  David 
W.  Barnes,  before  mentioned  as  an  office-holder,  and  two 
brothers,  named  Charles  and  Theodore  Sargent,  who  all 
took  up  their  residences  near  the  present  city  of  Canton. 
When  Theodore  got  ready  for  a  wife,  he  sought  an  inter- 
yiew  with  Dame  Wentworth,  and  having  made  known  the 
object  of  his  visit,  as  he  himself  related  it,  "The  old  lady 
me  over  with  the  air  of  a  judge  of  the  article  she 
ited  and  began  her  catechism  by  asking  me  what  I  fol- 


lowed,  my  age,  and  where  I  was  from.  I  told  her  I  was 
twenty-nine  years  old,  and  had  been  five  years  a  soldier, 
and  thought  I  could  manage  a  wife ;  that  I  was  from  Barnes 
settlement,  was  opening  a  farm,  and  wanted  a  gal  to  help 
me  pull  through  the  start.  The  old  lady  shook  her  head 
and  informed  me  that  I  would  not  suit  her  gals,  as  she  had 
made  up  her  mind  they  would  marry  store-keepers.  I 
told  her  that  if  that  was  the  case,  I  reckoned  her  gals 
would  not  suit  me,  as  I  wanted  one  that  could  pull  with  me 
at  the  start/'  He  then  went  off  and  married  Rachel 
Brown,  the  ceremony  being  performed  by  his  friend  Barnes 
as  County  Commissioner,  which  is  the  only  instance  met 
with  of  a  marriage  ceremony  being  performed  by  an  incum- 
bent of  that  office. 

Piqued  at  the  treatment  their  friend  Sargent  had  re- 
ceived, the  young  men  of  the  neighbofhood  formed  a  con- 
spiracy against  Dame  Wentworth,  and  as  there  was  a  man 
named  Clark  who  occasionally  came  through  the  country 
on  horseback,  peddling  needles,  thread  and  other  small 
wares  in  a  sack,  dividing  his  stock  into  equal  portions 
and  balancing  it  over  his  saddle,  it  was  determined  to  put 
him  upon  the  scent  of  the  Wentworth  girls.  The  sugges- 
tion was  to  his  taste,  and  having  visited  the  mother  and 
informed  her  that  he  resided  in  Peoria,  and  sold  goods  for 
a  livelihood,  the  bargain  was  struck,  and  he  soon  after- 
wards married  the  daughter  Polly.  It  is  possible  that  the 
name  Eliza  is  erroneously  given  above,  for  it  appears  from 
the  records  of  Fulton  County  that  on  February  22,  1825, 
William  C.  Clark  and  Polly  Wentworth  were  united  in  mar- 
riage by  Ossian  M.  Ross,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  while  the 
name  of  Mary  Clark  appears  as  a  member  of  one  of  the 
early  Methodist  classes  of  Peoria,  where  William  Clark 
appears  to  have  been  a  man  of  some  prominence,  he  hav- 
ing been  elected  Coroner  at  the  first  election  of  Fulton 
County. 

In  1827  Mr.  Wentworth  and  his  family  (except  Hiram 
and  the  married  daughter)  moved  to  Chicago.  They  left 
Lewistown  with  two  two-horse  wagons,  stopped  over  night 
at  the  house  of  Ossian  M.  Ross,  near  Canton,  after  which 
they  saw  no  white  people  until  they  reached  Peoria,  none 
from  Peoria  to  Ottawa,  and  none  from  Ottawa  to  Chicago. 
Being  devout  Methodists,  they  helped  in  the  organization  of 
churches  of  that  denomination  both  in  Fulton  County  and 
in  Chicago,  where  doubtless  their  names  may  be  found 

98 


among  the  pioneer  settlers.  Elijah  Wentworth  afterwards 
related  that  when  he  reached  Chicago  there  were  not  more 
than  ten  or  twelve  families  residing  there,  outside  the 
garrison  at  Fort  Dearborn.  He  located  on  an  eighty-  acre 
tract  about  four  miles  from  the  lake  to  avoid  the  swamps. 
His  daughters  bought  deer  skins  from  the  Indians,  and 
resumed  the  manufacture  of  gloves  and  mittens.  This  was 
probably  the  pioneer  manufactory  of  hats,  gloves  and  mit- 
tens at  Chicago. 

Early  in  the  year  1823,  William  S.  Hamilton,  a  son 
of  the  distinguished  statesman,  Alexander  Hamilton,  a 
lawyer  by  profession,  but  who  could  be  surveyor,  cattle 
driver,  or  miner  for  lead  ore  as  occasion  required,  had  taken 
a  contract  to  supply  Fort  Howard,  at  Green  Bay,  with 
beef  cattle.  John  Hamlin,  who  had  come  to  Peoria  about 
two  years  before  that  time,  and  who  had  been  appointed 
Justice  of  the  Peace  of  Fulton  County,  accompanied  him. 
On  their  way  they  stopped  at  Chicago  and  arrived  at  their 
destination,  at  Green  Bay,  on  the  second  day  of  July.  Re- 
turning they  reached  Chicago  about  the  2Oth  day  of  the 
same  month.  By  that  time  a  marriage  license  had  been  pro- 
cured from  the  Clerk  of  the  County  Commissioners'  Court 
of  Fulton  County,  authorizing  the  solemnization  of  mar- 
riage between  Alexander  Wolcott,  Jr.,  and  Miss  Ellen 
Marion  Kinzie,  of  Chicago.  There  being  no  resident  Jus- 
tice of  the  Peace  and  no  minister  of  the  Gospel,  not  even 
a  chaplain  at  the  fort,  Mr.  Hamlin  was  called  upon  to  per- 
form the  ceremony,  which  seems  -to  have  been  the  first 
marriage  solemnized  within  the  bounds  of  the  present  city 
of  Chicago,  and  so  far  as  the  records  show,  the  first  to  be 
solemnized  within  the  new  county  of  Fulton. 

At  the  same  time,  Mr.  Hamlin  entered  the  employment 
of  the  American  Fur  Company,  and  after  serving  them  a 
year  on  the  Kankakee  and  Iroquois  Rivers,  established  a 
trading  post  of  that  company  at  Peoria. 

Anticipating  somewhat  the  order  of  events,  it  may  be 
here  stated  that  the  records  of  Peoria  County  show  that  on 
August  18,1825,  Samuel  Miller  and  Elizabeth  Kinzie  were 
united  in  marriage  by  John  Kinzie,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
who  by  this  time  had  been  commissioned  as  Justice  of  the 
Peace  of  Peoria  County. 

In  May,  1879,  Major  General  David  Hunter,  who  mar- 
ried Maria  Kinzie,  relates  that  he  was  married  at  Chicago, 
having  had  to  send  a  soldier  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles 

99 


on  foot  to  Peoria  to  procure  a  license.  A  license  procured 
with  so  much  effort  was  certainly  worthy  of  preservation, 
and  it  may  have  been  stowed  away  as  a  souvenir  of  the 
happy  event,  but  so  far  the  records  of  Peoria  County  fail 
to  disclose  that  such  a  license  was  ever  issued,  or  if  issued, 
that  it  was  ever  returned  by  an  officiating  officer  or  cler- 
gyman. Evidence  of  such  marriage  is,  however,  not  want- 
ing, for  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Nelly  Kinzie  Gordon,  a 
granddaughter  of  John  Kinzie,  and  wife  of  General  Gor- 
don, of  Savannah,  Georgia,  is  a  newspaper  clipping  ^which 
reads  as  follows:  "Married — At  Chicago,  om  i8th  Sep- 
tember, i829,by  Alexander  Doyle,  Esq.,  Lieut.  David  Hun- 
ter, of  the  U.  S.  Army,  to  Miss  Maria  Indiana  Kinzie,  oi 
Chicago."  The  records  show  that  Alexander  Doyle  was 
at  that  time  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  of  Peoria  County. 

During  the  two  years  that  Chicago  and  Peoria  were 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  Fulton  County,  not  many  events 
of  a  public  nature  worthy  of  note  at  this  place  occurred. 
Elections  were  held,  but  so  far  as  known  no  polls  were 
opened  'alt  Chicago.  In  the  great  contest  over  the  slavery 
question  in  1824,  Fulton  County  gave  sixty-five  votes 
against  the  pro-slavery  convention  to  five  in  its  favor,  the 
anti-slave  cause  being  championed  by  Ossian  M.  Ross  and 
the  noted  Methodist  missionary,  Peter  Cartwright.  Daaiel 
P.  Cook  was  elected  Representative  in  Congress  from  the 
State  at  large,  Thomas  Carlin,  afterwards  Governor,  State 
Senator  from  the  counties  of  Green,  Pike,  Morgan  and  Ful- 
ton, Nicholas  Hanson,  Representative  from  the  counties 
of  Pike  and  Fulton,  but  'having  resigned  before  the  expira- 
tion of  his  term  of  office,  'he  was  succeeded  by  Levi  Roberts, 
of  Pike  County. 

The  Legislature  elected  at  that  time  wrought  import- 
ant changes  in  the  political  status  of  both  Peoria  and  Chi- 
cago, to  fully  understand  which  it  becomes  necessary  to 
refer  to  some  other  portions  of  the  State.  By  Act  of  Jan- 
uary 13,  1825,  Schuyler,  Adams,  Hancock,  Warren  and 
Mercer  Counties  were  erected  out  of  the  territory  still 
belonging  to  Pike  County,  and  Knox,  Henry  and  Putnam 
out  of  that  belonging  to  Fulton  County.  By  another  Act 
of  the  same  date,  Peoria  County,  with  its  present  bound- 
aries, was  erected  out  of  territory  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort 
Clark,  still  belonging  to  Fulton  County.  Knox  County 
embraced  a  territory  twenty-four  miles  wide,  between  the 
Fourth  Principal  Meridian  and  the  east  line  of  Range  four 


100 


east,  and  between  the  north  line  of  Township  eight  north 
and  the  north  line  of  Township  number  twelve  north  of  the 
base  line.  Henry  County  embraced  a  strip  of  territory  of 
the  same  width  as  Knox  County,  and  extending  to  the  Wis- 
consin State  line.  Warren  County  embraced  all  the  terri- 
tory now  constituting  the  counties  of  Warren  and  Hender- 
son, while  Mercer  County  embraced  all  the  territory  north 
of  Warren  and  west  of  Knox  and  Henry  Counties  to  the 
Mississippi  River.  Putnam  County  embraced  all  the  terri- 
tory formerly  belonging  to  Fulton  County  lying  north  of 
Peoria  County  and  east  of  Henry,  namely,  all  the  territory 
west  and  north  of  the  Illinois  and  Kankakee  Rivers  and 
east  of  Range  four  east  of  the  Fourth  Principal  Meridian, 
with  the  exception  of  that  set  apart  to  the  County  of  Peoria. 
In  addition  to  the  territory  now  constituting  Peoria  Coun- 
ty, there  were  attached  to  it  for  county  purposes  all  that 
part  of  Sangamon  County  north  of  Township  number 
twenty  north  of  the  base  line  and  west  of  the  Third  Prin- 
cipal Meridian,  and  all  that  tract  of  country  north  of  Peoria 
County  and  of  the  Illinois  and  Kankakee  Rivers,  While 
Warren  and  Mercer  were  for  a  time  attached  to  Schuyler 
for  county  purposes,  Knox  and  Henry  still  remaining  at- 
tached to  Fulton. 

That  portion  of  Sangamon  which  was  attached  to 
Peoria  County  embraced  the  three  northern  tiers  of  town- 
ships of  what  is  now  Mason  County,  the  northern  tier  of 
Logan  County,  the  western  tier  of  McLean  County,  all  of 
Tazewell  County,  about  two-thirds  of  Woodford  County, 
about  one-half  of  Marshall  County,  and  all  of  the  present 
County  of  Putnam,  except  about  one  township  lying  to  the 
northwest  of  the  Illinois  River.  A  glance  at  any  sectional 
map  will  show  the  extent  of  this  jurisdiction  north  and  west 
of  the  two  rivers  named. 

By  an  Act  of  the  Legislature  of  1826,  the  County  of 
McDonough  was  formed  out  of  the  territory  that  seems  to 
have  been  overlooked  in  the  legislation  of  1825,  and  by  the 
same  Act  the  counties  of  Warren  and  Mercer  were  at- 
tached to  Peoria  for  county  purposes,  leaving  the  counties 
of  Knox  and  Henry  still  attached  to  Fulton  County.  It  is 
a  mistake,  therefore,  to  suppose,  as  some  do,  that  Knox 
County  and  the  territory  north  of  it  were  ever  attached 
to  Peoria  County  for  county  purposes.  On  the  contrary, 
the  County  Commissioners'  Court,  in  laying  out  roads, 
were  careful  not  to  attempt  the  exercise  of  jurisdiction  over 

101 


that  territory.  With  this  exception  the  jurisdictioi 
Peoria  County  extended  from  near  the  present  city  of  Ha- 
vana, in  Mason  County,  to  the  Mississippi  River,  some  dis- 
tance below  Burlington,  and  thence  over  all  the  territory 
north  and  west  of  the  Illinois  'and  Kankakee  Rivers,  as 
well  as  that  portion  of  Sangamon  County  just  mentioned. 

The  Act  creating  the  county  of  Peoria  was  approved  on 
January  13,  1825,  and  between  that  day  and  the  i8th  of 
the  same  month  Norman  Hyde  was  by  vote  of  the  two 
houses  of  the  Legislature  elected  Judge  of  the  Probate 
Court,  and  Thomas  Camlin,  George  Ash,  John  Phillips, 
Stephen  French,  Nathan  Dillon,  Isaac  Perkins,  Jacob  Wil- 
son, Joseph  Moffatt,  Austin  Crocker  and  John  Kinzie  were 
appointed  Justices  of  the  Peace.  On  the  seventh  day  of 
March,  1825,  the  first  election  in  the  new  county  was  held 
in  the  house  of  William  Eads,  at  Peoria,  at  which  time 
Samuel  Fulton  was  elected  Sheriff,  William  Phillips,  Cor- 
oner, and  William  Holland,  Nathan  Dillon  and  Joseph 
Smith,  County  Commissioners.  On  the  day  following  the 
County  Commissioners'  Court  convened  and  set  the  wheels 
of  government  of  the  new  county  in  motion.  Norman 
Hyde,  although  holding  a  commission  as  Judge  of  the  Pro- 
bate Court,  was  appointed  Clerk  of  the  County  Commis- 
sioners' Court,  which  position  he  continued  to  hold  until 
June  4,  when  he  assumed  the  duties  of  the  office  of  Judge  of 
the  Probate  Court. 

By  the  Act  creating  the  county,  the  county  seat  had 
been  located  on  the  northeast  quarter  of  Section  nine  in 
Township  eight,  north  of  the  base  line  of  Range  eight  east 
of  the  Fourth  Principal  Meridian.  This  quarter  section  was 
then  public  land,  but  the  right  to  so  locate  the  county  was 
claimed  under  an  Act  of  Congress  passed  at  some  prior 
date.  In  securing  the  title  the  Commissioners  met  with 
unexpected  objections  from  the  officers  of  the  land  office 
for  three  alleged  reasons:  First,  that  being  a  fractional 
section  it  was  not  subject  to  entry ;  second,  certain  French 
claims  granted  by  an  Act  of  Congress  of  March  4,  1823, 
growing  out  of  the  destruction  of  La  Ville  de  Maillet  by 
Captain  Craig,  were  supposed  to  occupy  a  portion  of  that 
quarter;  third,  James  Latham,  formerly  Probate  Judge  of 
Sangamon  County,  had  set  up  a  conflicting  claim  under  a 
private  entry.  Thereupon  ensued  a  legal  contest  lasting 
for  nine  years,  which  was  ended,  so  far  as  the  land  office 
was  concerned,  by  an  Act  of  Congress,  confirming  the  title 

103 


in  the  county  subject  to  the  French  claims,  and  as  to  Lath- 
am by  a  subsequent  compromise  with  his  heirs. 

For  six  years  after  the  organization  of  Peoria  County 
the  territory  now  embraced  within  the  county  of  Cook,  with 
its  great  metropolis,  together  with  the  territory  now  form- 
ing many  other  counties,  with  their  teeming  populations, 
their  cities  and  towns,  was  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of 
Peoria  County. 

At  first,  however,  the  business  of  the  county  was  not 
transacted  on  the  quarter  section  designated  in  the  forma- 
tive Act  as  the  county  seat,  but  on  an  adjoining  fractional 
quarter,  now  known  as  Bigelow  &  Underbill's  addition  to 
Peoria.  The  sessions  of  the  County  Commissioners'  Court, 
as  well  as  of  the  Circuit  Court,  were  first  held  in  the  house 
of  one  Joseph  Ogee  (Ozier),  which  enjoyed  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  the  best  house  in  the  village,  it  'being  con- 
structed of  hewn  instead  of  round  logs.  It  was  located  just 
below  the  ferry,  which  then  occupied  the  site  of  the  pres- 
ent  lower  wagon  road  bridge,  and  probably  between  that 
and  the  bridge  of  the  Toledo,  Peoria  &  Western  Railroad 
at  Walnut  street.  Afterwards  the  Beeson  house,  which 
may  have  been  the  same  as  that  of  Ogee,  was  used  as  the 
court  house  for  a  year  or  more,  but  neither  of  these  was 
owned  by  the  county.  On  March  3,  1829,  John  Hamlin 
sold  to  the  county  for  $75  a  log  house,  built  by  Simon 
Crozier,  and  formerly  occupied  by  him  as  a  store.  It  is 
described  as  being  fourteen  feet  square,  with  a  cellar  or 
basement,  probably  opening  upon  the  river.  This  con- 
tinned  to  be  the  Court  House  so  long  >as  Chicago  re- 
mained united  with  Peoria  County.  It  was  also  used  for 
other  public  purposes,  such  as  religious  meetings,  and 
probably  as  a  school-house.  It  was  then  in  a  bad  state 
of  repair,  and  required  to  be  fitted  up  for  public  purposes. 
At  .he  June  term  of  the  County  Commissioners'  Court, 
1829,  it  was  ordered  that  the  lower  story  be  used  as  a  jail. 
At  the  September  term,  1830,  it  was  ordered  that  it  be 
plaistered  in  the  joints,  weather  boarded  and  a  window  with 
glass  be  put  in  the  river  side,  and  a  plank  floor  be  laid 
loose  on  the  joists  above.  At  the  June  term,  1831,  further 
improvements  were  ordered,  to  consist  of  a  desk  of  walnut 
plank,  six  by  three  and  one-half  feet  and  four  and  one-half 
feet  high,  four  benches,  two  fourteen  feet  long  or  the  length 
of  the  room,  and  two  six  feet  long,  one  and  one-half  inches 
thick,  with  an  additional  strip  or  piece  where  the  legs 


1C3 


should  be  put  in,  the  three  hewn  logs  missing  from  the 
lower  room  to  be  put  in  place,  that  is,  replaced  by  a  door 
cheek,  a  door  to  be  made  of  inch  plank,  the  hinges,  pad- 
lock and  staples  to  be  furnished  by  the  workmen ;  also  two 
benches  for  the  table. 

Dr.  Enoch  Cross,  who  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  a 
church  which  held  its  meetings  in  this  Court  House  in 
1834,  thus  describes  it :  "We  found  the  Court  House  not 
quite  up  to  our  notions  of  so  dignified  a  structure.  "It  was 
a  log  building,  some  fifteen  feet  square,  standing  on  the 
low  bank  of  Lake  Peoria,  on  one  side  of  which  was  a  raised 
platform  for  the  judge,  and  its  seats  for  lawyers  and  jurors 
were  formed  out  of  logs  split  in  halves,  and  the  split  side 
turned  up  and  raised  from  the  floor  by  wooden  pegs.  It 
was  there,  in  that  humble  room,  and  from  that  rude  pulpit, 
that  the  early  members  of  your  church  gladly  assembled 
to  listen  to  the  Word,  though  dispensed  to  them  from  un- 
cultured lips.  Much  that  was  then  of  deep  interest  to  me 
has  faded  from  memory.  But  one  of  our  preachers  I  dis- 
tinctly recollect.  He  was  an  Englishman  and  a  Methodist. 
If  he  did  not  agree  with  Paul  in  the  doctrine  of  'predestina- 
tion,' in  practice  he  did  harmonize  with  that  apostle  in  not 
being  a  burden  to  the  church.  Six  days  in  the  week  he 
labored  with  his  own  hands,  not  at  tent  making,  but  at 
shoe  making,  and  when  the  holy  Sabbath  came,  his  work 
bench  was  placed  at  one  side  of  the  judge's  seat,  and  ham- 
mer and  lapstone,  with  other  implements  of  his  trade,  were 
neatly  covered  over  with  his  leathern  apron,  while  he,  having 
donned  a  clerical  black  coat  and  a  white  necktie,  stood 
before  us  ready  to  feed  his  little  flock,  which  did  not  often 
number  more  than  eight  or  ten,  unless  we  reckon  the  flock 
of  sheep  and  lambs  that  took  shelter  from  the  heat  in  the 
basement  or  cellar  kitchen  under  the  Court  House  floor, 
or  the  prairie  mice,  which,  to  the  great  delight  of  the  chil- 
dren, held  high  carnival  between  the  logs.  Some  of  us  were 
lovers  of  sacred  song,  but  such  music  as  we  then  made 
would  not  now  be  considered  very  artistic,  yet  it  was  full 
of  devotion  and  sincere  worship,  though  its  melody  was 
sometimes  a  little  disturbed  by  the  plaintive  bleating  of 
the  sheep  and  lambs  beneath  our  feet."  Other  chroniclers 
say  that  the  hotel  accommodations  being  meagre,  the  jurors 
were  in  the  habit  of  'bringing  their  blankets  with  them  and 
sleeping  on  the  Court  House  floor. 

Imagine,   if  you  will,  with  what  dignity  the   rotund 

104 


form  of  John  York  Sawyer  filled  the  space  behind  that  wal- 
nut desk,  or  the  elegant  and  gentlemanly  Samuel  D.  Lock- 
wood  or  Richard  M.  Young  gave  their  charges  to  jurors 
sitting  on  puncheon  benches  supported  by  wooden  pegs 
with  the  bark  on,  or  with  what  urbane  sedateness  Sidney 
Breese  or  Stephen  T.  Logan  there  listened  to  the  argu- 
ments of  James  Turney,  Benjamin  Mills  or  William  S. 
Hamilton,  in  a  room  fourteen  feet  square,  with  one  glass 
window  and  a  loose  plank  floor  overhead.  Yet  here  it 
was  that  law  pure  and  simple  was  administered  for  this 
vast  territory. 

The  first  term  of  the  Circuit  Court  was  held  by  the 
Hon.  John  York  Sawyer,  commencing  November  14,  1825, 
John  Dixon  being  Clerk,  Samuel  Fulton,  Sheriff,  and  James 
Turney,  Attorney  General.  The  grand  jury  was  drawn 
from  a  territory  extending  from  Fox  River  to  the  Mack- 
inaw, in  what  is  now  Tazewell  County.  The  most  important 
trial  was  that  of  No-ma-que,  an  Indian,  w'ho  was  tried  for 
the  murder  of  a  Frenchman  named  Perre  Landre — William 
S.  Hamilton  appearing  as  his  counsel  No-ma-que  was 
convicted  and  sentenced  to  be  'hanged,  but  the  judgment 
was  reversed  by  the  Supreme  Court,  and  No-ma-que  es- 
caped and  was  subsequently  killed  at  the  battle  of  Sycamore 
Creek  in  the  Black  Hawk  war.  The  next  term  of  court  was 
held  in  November,  1826,  one  year  after  the  first,  and  was 
again  presided  over  by  Judge  Sawyer. 

From  the  May  term,  1827,  until  the  October  term,  1828, 
the  court  was  held  by  Judge  Lockwood,  and  after  him,  so 
long  as  Chicago  remained  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Peoria 
County,  by  Judge  Young. 

Although  Norman  Hyde  held  his  commission  as  Judge 
of  the  Probate  Court  from  the  iStih  day  of  January,  1825, 
he  did  not  assume  the  duties  of  that  office  until  the  fourth 
day  of  June  of  the  same  year,  there  being  in  all  probability 
no  business  to  transact.  The  court  was  opened  for  the  first 
time  on  the  sixth  day  of  June,  but  was  immediately  ad- 
journed for  want  of  business  until  the  next  term.  And 
similar  adjournments  were  taken  until  September  30,  when 
the  first  estate  of  a  deceased  person  was  presented  for  ad- 
ministration. It  was  that  of  Joseph  O'Brien,  presumed 
to  be  of  Peoria.  Eighteen  months  afterwards,  when  his 
estate  was  closed,  it  showed  a  balance  of  $416.31^  for  dis- 
tribution. On  December  5  of  that  year  the  first  will  was 
presented  for  probate.  It  was  that  of  Isaac  Remsden,  Jr., 


105 


I 


presumed  to  be  of  Mackinaw  Point.  It  had  been  executed 
in  Newton  Township,  Muskinggum  County,  Ohio,  on  May 
13,  1825.  Mr.  Remsden's  residence  in  Peoria  County  must 
therefore  have  been  a  very  brief  one. 

On  the  24th  day  of  April,  1826,  an  entry  appears  which 
brings  the  early  history  of  Chicago  into  close  touch  with 
that  of  Peoria.  Alexander  Wolcott,  Jr.,  appeared  and 
made  proof  of  the  death  of  John  Crafts,  of  Chicago,  man- 
ager of  the  business  of  the  American  Fur  Company.  There 
being  no  next  of  kin  in  the  State,  Wolcott  had  received  au- 
thority to  administer  from  Craft's  heirs  in  Massachusetts. 
Letters  of  administration  were  granted  Wolcott  on  a  bond 
of  $3,000,  with  John  Kinzie,  of  Chicago,  and  James  Lath- 
am, of  Peoria,  as  sureties.  The  estate  was  valued  by  John 
Kinzie  and  Billy  Caldwell,  appraisers,  at  $9,006.51 ;  the  sale 
bill  amounted  to  $504.01.  On  April  28,  1828,  Alexander 
Wolcott  closed  up  the  estate,  charging  himself,  among 
other  things,  with  an  item  of  $2,500  received  from  the 
American  Fur  Company  for  Craft's  share  of  the  profits  on 
the  Chicago  outfit  for  the  year  1825-6,  according  to  the 
award  of  Thomas  Adis  Emmett,  Esq.,  arbitrator  in  the 
case ;  and  after  taking  credit,  among  other  things,  for  an 
account  of  the  American  Fur  Company  against  the  estate 
for  $784,  one  to  John  Kinzie  for  $87,58,  and  one  to  Gurdon 
S.  Hubbard  for  $22,  he  had  left  a  balance  of  $1,456.25,  which 
was  duly  distributed. 

It  appears  that  John  Crafts  was  never  married.  His 
father  had  died  leaving  a  widow  and  daughter  Esther,  the 
mother  and  sister  of  John  Crafts.  The  widow  had  been 
married  a  second  time  to  Samuel  Mead,  by  whom  she  had 
had  several  children.  The  papers  authorizing  Wolcott  to 
administer  upon  the  estate  were  executed  in  December, 
1825,  and  January,  1826,  and  stated  that  Crafts  had  died 
during  the  past  summer,  the  exact  date  not  given.  The 
brothers  and  sisters  were  then  all  of  age  and  several  of 
them  married.  John  Craft's  mother  was  then  the  wife  of 
Ebenezer  Morse,  both  of  them  residing  at  Walpole,  New 
Hampshire.  The  brothers  and  sisters  of  the  half  blood 
were  Hannah,  wife  of  Phineas  Henderson,  of  Chesterfield ; 
Caroline,  unmarried;  Nancy,  wife  of  Ephraim  Holland, 
both  of  them  of  Walpole ;  Samuel  O.  and  Harriet  Mead,  un- 
married, both  of  Boston,  Massachusetts. 

On  the  same  day  'that  he  closed  up  the  estate  of 
John  Crafts,  Alexander  Wolcott,  Jr.,  made  proof  of  the 


106 


death  of  John  Kinzie,  of  Chicago,  which  'had  occurred 
on  January  6,  1828,  and  obtained  letters  upon  his  estate 
under  bond  of  $3,000,  with  John  B.  Beaubien  and  James 
Kinzie  as  sureties.  On  the  io/th  day  of  May,  1828,  the 
appraisement  bill  was  filed,  which  showed  that  it  had  been 
jiade  on  April  22,  by  Alexander  Doyle  and  J.  B.  Beaubien, 
sworn  to  before  R.  A.  Kinzie,  Clerk,  and  that  the  persona] 
effects  amounted  to  $805.40.  The  sale  bill  dated  April  28, 
certified  toy  R.  A.  Kinzie,  Clerk,  amounted  to  $254.87^. 

On  the  1 2th  day  of  October,  1829,  it  was  ordered  that 
Alexander  Wolcott,  administrator  of  the  estate  of  John 
Kinzie,  give  the  notice  required  by  law  of  the  settlement 
of  the  estate.  On  the  i/th  day  of  December,  1830,  came 
John  B.  Beaubien  and  proved  the  death  of  Francis  La 
Framboise,  of  Chicago,  and  obtained  letters  of  administra- 
tion under  bond  of  $3,000,  with  David  Hunter,  of  Chicago, 
and  John  Hamlin,  of  Peoria,  as  sureties.  And  on  the  same 
day  came  David  Hunter  and  proved  the  death  of  Alexander 
Wolcott,  administrator  of  the  estate  of  John  Kinzie,  and 
obtained  letters  of  administration  debonisnon  upon  Kinzie's 
estate ;  the  bond  in  this  case  being  $3,000,  with  Beaubien 
and  Hamlin  as  sureties.  On  May  20,  1831,  David  Hunter 
filed  his  report  of  the  estate  of  John  Kinzie,  showing  the 
following:  Money  received  from  Mr.  Hamlin,  $19.00;  from 
R.  A.  Kinzie,  $185.00;  from  Mrs.  Wolcott,  $486.25,  and 
from  I.  N.  Bailie,  rent,  $50.00;  total,  $740.25.  There  was 
due  the  estate  from  the  American  Fur  Company  $2,190.12, 
with  interest  at  five  per  cent,  per  annum  from  May  12, 
1828,  which  was  reported  as  a  good  claim.  This  is  the 
last  entry  that  appears  concerning  the  estate  of  John  Kinzie. 
No  orders  appear  to  have  been  then  taken  in  the  estate  of 
Alexander  Wolcott.  It  was  administered  in  the  Probate 
Court  of  Cook  County.* 

Alexander  Wolcott.  It  was  probably  administered  in  the 
Probate  Court  of  Putnam  County. 

Norman  Hyde,  the  judge  of  this  court,  died  in  office 
during  the  year  1832.  He  was  a  young  man  of  varied  at- 
tainments, he  having  been  Clerk  of  the  County  Commis- 
sioners' Court,  school  teacher,  Judge  of  the  Probate  Court, 
and  Postmaster  all  in  one  year,  and  subsequently  county 


*During  the  reading  of  this  paper  Hon.  James  B.  Bradwell  stated  that  the 
last  will  and  testament  of  l)r.  Alexander  'Volcott  was  the  first  to  be  admitted  to 
probate  in  Cook  County;  that  he  had  personally  examined  the  records  before 
they  were  destroyed  by  the  great  fire  and  had  found  the  fact  as  stated. 


107 


surveyor.     He  surveyed  mining  claims  in  the  lead  mine 
regitfn,  and  possibly  town  lots  in  Chicago. 

Those  who  have  perused  that  charming  book,  "Wau- 
bun,"  will  not  have  forgotten  the  story  of  the  snow-bound 
travelers  at  the  house  of  William  S.  Hamilton,  the  same 
person  I  have  frequently  mentioned,  nor  will  those  fa- 
miliar with  the  history  of  the  Black  Hawk  war  have  failed 
to  notice  that  John  Dixon  and  Joseph  Ogee,  herein  so  fre- 
quently mentioned,  are  the  same  that  established  the  ferry 
on  Rock  River,  or  that  John  Dixon  is  the  same  who  was 
the  founder  of  the  flourishing  city  of  Dixon.  Nor  will 
the  readers  of  "Wau--bun"  have  failed  to  notice  the  tender- 
ness with  which  the  gifted  authoress  has  written  of  Sister 
Margaret  and  of  her  young  son  Edwin,  and  perhaps  their 
wonder  has  been  ex'cited  to  know  whether  or  not  Margaret 
was  then  a  widow,  and  if  so,  when  and  where  her  husband, 
Lieutenant  Helm,  had  died.  Histories  of  Chicago,  pos- 
sibly out  of  consideration  of  the  good  name  of  a  (brave  sol- 
dier, possibly  for  want  of  information  upon  the  subject, 
have  heretofore  failed  to  disclose  the  real  situation.  The 
mystery  is,  in  part  at  least,  solved  by  the  records  of  the 
Circuit  Court  of  Peoria  County,  where  it  appears  that  on 
October  12,  1829,  Margaret  Helm  obtained  a  divorce  from 
her  husband,  Lenai  T.  Helm,  for  a  cause  not  specified  in 
the  decree,  'but  if  her  petition  was  proved  true  in  all  re- 
spects, however  brave  a  soldier  Lieutenant  Helm  may  have 
been,  yet,  as  a  husband,  he  had  not  'been  any  more  exemp- 
lary than  some  other  husbands  of  whom  we  read.  The 
summons  was  sent  to  Clay  County,  Illinois,  and  was  per- 
sonally served  upon  the  defendant.  The  most  interesting 
part  of  the  decree  is  that  the  complainant  was  given  the 
exclusive  charge,  custody  and  control  of  the  person  of  her 
son,  Edwin  Helm,  until  he  should  arrive  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one  years;  that  she  should  hold  in  her  own  right 
all  the  money,  property,  reservation  or  interest  that  may 
have  been  stipulated,  granted  or  ceded  to  her  as  one  of  the 
heirs  of  John  Kinzie,  deceased,  in  the  late  treaty  made  by 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  with  Ottawa,  Chip- 
pewa,  Pottawattamie  and  other  tribes  of  Indians,  as  a  part 
of  her  alimony  to  be  allowed  her  of  the  estate  of  the  said 
defendant,  other  alimony  to  be  awarded  from  time  to  time 
as  the  court  might  order.  The  treaty  referred  to  was  prob- 
ably that  of  Prairie  du  Chien,  concluded  in  July,  1829,  but 
probably  not  ratified  until  the  January  following.  Al- 


108 


though  not  a  lineal  descendant  of  John  Kinzie,  Margaret 
Helm  had  been  brought  up  in  'his  family,  and  seems  to 
have  'been  treated  by  her  half  brothers  and  sisters  as  one 
of  the  family,  and  had  been  named  in  the  treaty  as  one 
of  his  heirs. 

In  their  early  days  Peoria  and  Chicago  were  closely 
allied  in  the  political  affairs  of  the  State  and  nation.  At 
the  first  State  election  after  the  admission  of  Illinois  into 
the  Union,  Daniel  P.  Cook  was  elected  Representative  in 
Congress  from  the  State  at  large,  George  Cadwell  was 
elected  State  Senator,  and  John  Howard,  Abraham  Prick- 
ett  and  Captain  Samuel  Whitesides  were  elected  Repre- 
sentatives from  Madison  County,  which  then  included  the 
sites  of  the  future  cities  of  Peoria  and  Chicago.  At  the 
second  election,  Which  occurred  in  1820,  Daniel  P.  Cook 
was  re-elected  to  Congress,  George  Cadwell  to  the  Senate 
and  Joseph  Borough,  Nathaniel  Buckmaster  and  William 
Otwell  to  the  House  of  Representatives.  The  Legislature 
elected  at  that  time  erected  the  county  of  Pike,  attached  it 
to  Green  County  as  a  Senatorial  District,  and  gave  it  one 
Representative  in  the  house  by  itself.  At  the  next  election, 
in  1822,  Daniel  P.  Cook  was  re-elected  to  Congress,  George 
Cadwell  State  Senator  from  Greene  and  Pike  Counties,  and 
Nicholas  Hanson  was  elected  Representative  from  Pike 
County,  but  was  thrown  out  in  favor  of  John  Shaw,  by 
whose  vote  the  submission  of  the  calling  of  a  pro-slavery 
convention  was  affected. 

The  Legislature  elected  at  that  time  erected  the  coun- 
ty of  Fulton  out  of  the  county  of  Pike.  The  counties  of 
Greene,  Morgan,  Pike  and  Fulton  were  given  one  Senator, 
and  the  counties  of  Fulton  and  Pike  one  Representative. 
In  the  exciting  election  which  followed,  Fulton  County, 
which  then  embraced  the  sites  of  Peoria  and  Chicago, 
sixty-five  votes  were  cast  against  the  pro-slavery  conven- 
tion and  only  fine  in  its  favor.  But  so  far  as  known  no 
votes  were  received  from  either  of  those  two  cities  upon 
that  momentous  question.  Daniel  P.  Cook  was  re-elected 
to  Congress,  Thomas  Carlin  (afterwards  Governor)  was 
chosen  State  Senator  from  Greene,  Pike,  Morgan  and  Ful- 
ton Counties,  Nicholas  Hanson  was  re-elected  Representa- 
tive from  Pike  and  Fulton  Counties.  Hanson  having  re- 
signed before  the  expiration  of  his  term,  was  succeeded 
by  Levi  Roberts,  of  Pike  County.  It  was  the  Legislature 
elected  at  this  time  that  erected  the  county  of  Peoria  and 


109 


subdivided  the  whole  northern  part  of  the  State  into  pros- 
pective counties.  Although  it  had  been  provided  in  the 
Act  establishing  the  county  that  it  should  vote  with  San- 
gamon  in  the  choice  of  Senators  and  Representatives,  yet 
at  a  special  session  of  the  Legislature,  begun  on  January 
2,  1826,  and'  before  any  elections  could  have  been  held 
under  the  former  act,  it  was  enacted  that  the  counties  of 
Pike,  Fulton,  Adams,  Morgan,  Schuyler  and  Peoria  should 
form  a  district,  and  that  this  large  territory,  embracing 
about  one-third  of  the  State,  should  have  one  Senator  and 
one  Representative  (Knox  and  Henry  still  being  attached 
to  Fulton,  while  Warren  and  Mercer  were  still  attached 
and  voted  with  Peoria). 

At  the  December  term,  1825,  of  the  County  Commis- 
sioners' Court,  the  county  of  Peoria,  including  the  attached 
territory,  was  divided  into  three  election  precincts  as  fol- 
lows :  The  Chicago  Precinct  to  contain  all  that  part  of 
the  country  east  of  the  mouth  of  the  La  Page  River,  where 
it  empties  its  waters  into  the  Aux  Plain  ;  the  elections  to  be 
held  at  the  Agency  House  or  "Cobweb  Hall,"  and  Abner 
(Alexander)  Wolcott,  John  Kinzie  and  J.  B.  Beaubien  to 
be  judges  at  all  general  and  special  elections. 

Peoria  Precinct  to  contain  all  that  tract  of  country 
north  and  west  of  the  Illinois  River  and  (east  of  the  river?) 
north  of  Township  twenty-four  and  west  of  the  Third  Prin- 
cipal Meridian,  the  elections  to  be  'held  at  the  Clerk's  of- 
fice, and  Stephen  French,  Abner  Eads  and  John  Phillips  to 
be  judges. 

Mackinaw  Precinct  to  contain  the  residue  of  the  coun- 
ty, the  elections  to  be  held  at  the  house  of  Jesse  Dillon, 
Isaac  Perkins,  William  Eads  and  Thomas  Dillon  to  be 
judges. 

At  the  March  term,  1826,  another  precinct  was  formed, 
called  the  Fox  River  Precinct,  containing  all  that  district 
of  country  north  of  the  Senachewein  Creek  and  the  River 
Des  Page,  the  elections  to  be  held  at  the  house  of  Jesse 
Walker,  near  the  junction  of  the  Illinois  and  Fox  Rivers, 
Aaron  Hawley,  Henry  Allen  and  James  Walker  to  be 
judges. 

At  the  June  term,  1826,  another  precinct,  known  as  the 
Fever  River  Precinct,  was  formed  out  of  the  counties  of 
Warren  and  Mercer,  the  elections  to  be  held  at  the  house 
of  Dr.  Garland.  This  precinct  embraced  the  lead  mine 
district  about  Galena,  Avhere  the  population  was  rapidly 
increasing. 

no 


At  the  June  term,  1827,  a  new  election  precinct  was 
created,  called  La  Salle  Precinct,  embracing  all  the  terri- 
tory north  of  the  south  line  of  Township  ten  north  and 
south  and  west  of  Sand  River,  elections  to  be  held  at  the 
house  of  Elias  P.  Avery. 

In  the  year  1827  the  county  of  Jo  Daviess  was  formed 
out  of  the  northern  part  of  Mercer  County,  thus  cutting 
off  from  the  jurisdiction  of  Peoria  County  the  populous 
territory  about  the  lead  mines,  which  no  longer  continued 
to  vote  with  Peoria  County. 

At  the  September  term,  1828,  a  new  precinct,  called 
the  Henderson  Precinct,  was  formed  out  of  what  was  left 
of  Warren  and  Mercer  Counties. 

The  original  returns  of  the  first  election  held  at  Chi- 
cago have  not  been  discovered,  but  the  records  tell  us  who 
acted  as  election  officers,  for,  at  the  September  term,  1826, 
of  the  County  Commissioners'  Court,  it  was  ordered  that 
John  Kinzie,  John  B.  Beaubien  and  B.  Caldwell,  Judges, 
and  Archibald  Clybourn,  Clerk,  be  each  paid  $1.00;  that 
John  K.  Clark  be  paid  $16  for  returning  the  polls,  and  that 
John  Kinzie  be  paid  $1.50  for  a  ballot  box  for  the  election 
held  in  the  month  of  August  preceding.  This  doubtless 
was  Chicago's  first  ballot->box.  No  returns  were  made  from 
the  Fox  River  Precinct.  Thirty-one  votes  were  cast  at  Chi- 
cago, two  'hundred  and  two  at  Galena,  fifty-one  at  Mack- 
inaw and  eighty-one  at  Peoria — 369  in  all,  of  which  the 
Fever  River  or  Lead  Mine  District  cast  more  than  one- 
half.  Chicago,  however,  made  a  good  showing  for  a  city 
so  young  in  years.  Although  Dr.  Wolcott  had  been  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  judges,  in  'his  absence  his  place  was 
ablv  filled  by  Billy  Caldwell,  while  Archibald  Clybourn, 
with  great  ability,  recorded  the  thirty-one  votes  cast  on 
that  occasion. 

Archibald  Job,  of  Morgan  County,  was  elected  Senator 
from  Pike,  Fulton,  Adams,  Morgan,  Peoria  and  Schuyler 
Counties ;  Henry  P.  Ross  was  elected  to  the  lower  house 
from  the  counties  of  Pike,  Adams,  Schuyler,  Fulton  and 
Peoria. 

The  year  1828  was  prolific  in  elections  in  Chicago, 
there  being  still  extant  the  returns  of  four  elections  held 
that  year  as  follows:  May  n,  for  Constables;  August  4, 
for  Representatives  in  Congress  and  the  State  Legislature ; 
August  20,  for  Justices  and  Constables ;  November  3,  for 
Electors  for  President  and  Vice-President  of  the  United 


111 


States ;  and  it  is  remarkable  with  what  unanimity  the  good 
citizens  of  Chicago  voted  on  all  local  tickets.  At  the  elec- 
tion on  May  n,  John  B.  Beaubien  and  Alexander  Doyle, 
Judges,  James  Kinzie  and  Stephen  Mack,  Clerks,  were 
sworn  in  by  Alexander  Wolcott,  Justice  of  the  Peace ;  while 
Alexander  Wolcott,  the  third  Judge,  was  sworn  in  before 
John  B.  Beaubien,  also  Justice  of  the  Peace.  The  election 
was  held  at  the  Agency  House.  There  were  nine  votes 
cast,  unanimously  for  Daniel  Hunter  and  Henly  Clybourn 
as  Constables.  This  is  the  oldest  election  return  from 
Chicago  Precinct  yet  discovered.  The  voters  were  Alex- 
ander Wolcott,  Jr.,  Jno.  B.  Beaubien,  James  Kinzie,  Sam- 
uel Johnson,  Stephen  Mack,  Archibald  Caldwell,  Joseph 
Bronski,  Antoine  Oilimet  and  Joseph  La  Frambois. 

At  the  general  election  'held  on  August  4,  John  B. 
Beaubien  and  James  Kinzie,  as  Judges,  and  Alexander 
Doyle  and  Henly  Clybourn,  as  Clerks,  were  sworn  in  by 
Alexander  Wolcott,  Judge  of  Election,  and  Alexander  Wol- 
cott, Judge,  was  sworn  in  by  John  B.  Beaubien,  also  a  Judge 
of  Election.  The  election  was  held  at  the  Agency  House, 
and  there  were  thirty-three  votes  cast  unanimously  for 
George  Forquer  for  Congress,  Henry  J.  Ross  for  State 
Senator,  Ossian  M.  Ross  for  Representative  in  the  Legis- 
lature, Orin  Hamlin  for  Sheriff,  George  Sharp,  Isaac  Eg- 
man  and  Francis  Thomas  for  County  Commissioners,  and 
Resolved  Cleveland  for  Coroner,  none  of  whom  resided 
north  of  the  present  county  of  Peoria. 

At  the  election  held  August  29,  James  Kinzie  and 
Alexander  Doyle,  Judges,  were  sworn  in  by  John  B.  Beau- 
bien, Judge  of  Election,  and  John  B.  Beaubien,  Judge, 
Archibald  Clybourn  and  Willard  Scott,  Clerks,  were  sworn 
in  by  Alexander  Doyle,  one  of  the  Judges.  The  election 
was  held  at  the  Agency  House.  There  were  thirty-three 
votes  cast,  of  which  Alexander  Doyle  received  twenty  and 
A.  Clybourn  thirteen  for  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
and  Henly  Clybourn  thirty-three,  and  Daniel  Hunter 
twenty-six  votes  for  the  office  of  Constable. 

The  first  Presidential  election  at  Chicago  was  held  at 
the  house  of  John  B.  Beaubien,  on  the  third  day  of  No- 
vember, 1828.  Norman  Hyde  and  Alexander  Wolcott, 
Judges,  were  sworn  in  by  John  B.  Beaubien,  the  third 
Judge,  while  he  in  turn,  together  with  Orin  Hamlin  and  Arch- 
ibald Clybourn,  Clerks,  was  sworn  in  by  Alexander  Wol- 
cott, as  Judge.  There  were  forty  votes  cast  for  electors  of 


112 


President  and  Vice-President,  of  which  Elijah  lies,  Samuel 
H.  Thompson  and  George  Webb,  the  John  Quincy  Adams 
ticket,  had  each  twenty-six,  and  John  Taylor,  A.  M.  Hous- 
ton and  Richard  M.  Young,  the  Andrew  Jackson  ticket, 
had  each  fourteen  votes.  What  appears  to  be  a  singular 
feature  of  this  election  is  that  Norman  Hyde,  Judge  of  the 
Probate  Court,  and  Orin  Hamlin,  Sheriff,  both  of  Peoria, 
should  have  been  officers  and  voted  at  Chicago.  All  these 
election  returns  were  duly  certified  and  forwarded  to  the 
Clerk,  by  what  means  of  conveyance  we  are  not  informed. 

There  were  no  printed  forms  in  use  to  keep  the  election 
officers  from  going  astray,  but  these  returns  are  each  writ- 
ten upon  the  two  inside  pages  of  a  sheet  of  foolscap  and 
follow  with  strictness  the  forms  prescribed  by  law. 

It  might  be  of  interest  to  analyze  the  votes  of  the  other 
precincts,  but  this  has  been  done  elsewhere  by  the  writer 
hereof.  For  the  entire  county  the  vote  stood  for  the 
Jackson  ticket — Young,  41 ;  Houston,  43 ;  Taylor,  46.  For 
the  Adams  ticket — lies,  91 ;  Thompson,  93  ;  Webb,  78.  The 
Peoria  Precinct  divided  its  81  votes  as  follows:  For  the 
Jackson  ticket — Young,  27 ;  Houston,  29 ;  Taylor,  29.  And 
for  the  Adams  ticket — lies,  51;  Thompson,  54;  Webb,  52. 
Jo  Daviess  County  having  in  the  meantime  (1827)  been 
set  off,  the  large  vote  of  the  Fever  River  country  had 
ceased  to  be  counted  with  Peoria.  At  the  August  election 
Joseph  Duncan  was  elected  to  Congress  over  George  For- 
quer;  Henry  J.  Ross,  of  Pike  County,  was  elected  State 
Senator ;  John  Turney,  of  Pike,  for  Representative ;  Orin 
Hamlin  for  Sheriff. 

No  special  interest  centers  upon  the  election  of  1830, 
whkh  was  the  last  election  at  which  Chicago  voted  as  part 
of  Peoria  County.  The  original  returns  of  that  election 
have  not  been  discovered. 

Cook  County,  however,  for  some  time  was  connected 
with  Peoria,  Putnam,  La  Salle  and  Jo  Davies  Counties  in  a 
Representative  district,  during  which  time  Chicagoans 
had  the  pleasure  of  voting  for  John  Hamlin,  of  Peoria,  as  a 
member  of  the  lower  house,  while  Peorians,  with  equal 
pleasure,  voted  for  General  James  M.  Strode,  of  Cook,  the 
gifted  orator  of  the  Black  Hawk  war,  for  Senator. 

Leaving  the  field  of  politics  and  recurring  to  matters 
more  local  and  domestic,  we  find  the  attention  of  the  Coun- 
ty Commissioners  of  Peoria  County  early  engaged  in  es- 
tablishing communication  with  the  rest  of  the  world  by 


113 


means  of  roads  and  ferries.  Having  first  laid  out  roads 
to  the  east,  west  and  south,  they  at  their  June  term,  1826, 
appointed  John  Barker,  George  Harland  and  Samuel  Ful- 
ton to  locate  a  road  from  the  ferry  at  Peoria  by  the  nearest 
and  best  way  to  the  Third  Principal  Meridian  (the  eastern 
limit  of  their  jurisdiction),  and  in  a  direction  to  strike  the 
big  salt  spring  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Fox  River,  the 
present  site  of  South  Ottawa.  This  left  a  gap  of  about 
eighteen  miles  to  be  filled  by  some  other  county.  Two 
ferry  licenses  were  granted,  one  at  the  Narrows,  three  miles 
above  Peoria,  to  Isaac  Waters,  John  Phillips  and  David 
Matthews;  the  other  to  Jesse  Walker,  the  noted  mission- 
ary, at  the  mouth  of  the  Fox  River  to  the  spring.  The  in- 
ference is  almost  irresistible  from  this  fact  that  the  road 
must  have  been  continuous  from  Peoria  to  the  big  spring, 
where  it  crossed  the  river  by  Walker's  ferry  and  continued 
on  towards  Chicago,  although  it  had  not  yet  been  laid  out 
by  the  Commissioners.  At  the  September  term  of  the 
same  year,  the  viewers  made  their  report,  and  thus  was 
laid  out  the  first  road  leading  from  Peoria  in  the  direction 
of  Chicago. 

By  Act  of  the  Legislature  of  January  12,  1833,  Lewis 
Bigelow,  of  Peoria,  John  M.  Gay,  of  Putnam,  James  B. 
Campbell,  of  La  Salle,  and  James  Walker,  of  Cook  County, 
were  appointed  Commissioners  to  lay  out  a  State  road  from 
Peoria  to  the  mouth  of  Fox  River,  and  thence  to  Chicago. 
This  road  must  have  followed  very  nearly  the  route  of  that 
laid  out  'by  the  Commissioners  of  Peoria  County.  It  went 
by  way  of  Hanover  (now  Metamora),  Magnolia  and  Union 
Grove  to  Ottawa,  thence  to  Chicago. 

At  the  June  term,  1828,  the  County  Commissioners 
established  a  general  scale  of  ferry  charges  for  the  entire 
county.  At  the  September  term  of  that  year  the  ferry 
license  of  Jesse  Walker,  at  the  mouth  of  Fox  River,  was 
renewed.  At  the  March  term,  1829,  among  others,  a  li- 
cense was  granted  to  Archibald  Clybourn  and  Samuel  Mill- 
er to  keep  a  ferry  across  the  Chicago  River  at  the  lower 
forks  near  Wolf  Point,  crossing  the  river  below  the  north- 
east branch,  and  to  land  on  either  side  of  both  branches, 
to  suit  the  convenience  of  all  persons  wishing  to  cross. 
This  was  probably  the  first  public  ferry  at  Chicago,  and 
probably  laid  the  foundation  of  the  market  in  poultry  and 
dairy  products,  which  still,  by  right  of  prescription,  occu- 
pies that  locality. 


114 


At  the  June  term,  1830,  a  license  was  granted  to  Wil- 
liam See  (another  missionary)  to  keep  a  ferry  across  the 
Callimink  (Calumet)  at  the  head  of  Lake  Michigan.  At 
the  same  time  it  was  ordered  that  the  ferries  under  their 
jurisdiction  should  be  taxed  for  the  ensuing  year  as  fol- 
lows :  William  Raines  (Pekm),  $4.00 ;  William  Eads  (Wes- 
ley City),  $2.00;  John  L.  Bogardus  (Peoria),  $10.00;  Mat- 
thews and  Chandler  (Narrows,  above  Peoria),  $2.00 ;  Miller 
and  Scott  (Hennepin),  $2.00 ;  James  Adams  (Little  Vermil- 
lion),  $2.00 ;  Clybourn  and  Miller  (Chicago),  $2.00 ;  William 
See  (Chicago),  $2.00.  The  Peoria  ferry  must  have  had 
five  times  the  ^business  of  either  of  those  at  Chicago. 

The  only  other  State  road  from  Chicago  to  Peoria  was 
laid  out  in  1836,  which  went  from  Chicago  by  way  of  Peru 
to  Boyd's  Grove,  where  it  united  with  the  State  road  from 
Peoria  to  Galena,  following  the  same  to  Peoria. 

The  difficulties  and  dangers  accompanying  trade  and 
travel  in  those  early  days  may  be  illustrated  by  a  very  few 
incidents.  Farmers  were  accustomed  to  haul  their  grain, 
pork  and  other  products  from  Peoria  to  Chicago  by  wagon, 
and  there  to  purchase  lumber  for  their  houses,  salt  for 
their  pork  and  supplies  for  their  families.  Those  doing 
business  on  the  river  transported  their  pork,  furs,  peltries 
and  other  products  by  Mackinaw  'boats  and  canoes,  mak- 
ing the  portage  between  the  DesPlaines  and  Chicago  Rivers 
by  land.  While  in  the  fur  'business  at  Peoria,  John  Hamlin 
conceived  the  bold  idea  of  shipping  his  pork  by  keel-boat 
a  portion  of  the  distance,  the  remainder  by  Miackinaw  boat 
to  Chicago.  Packing  his  pork  in  a  keel  boat  and  his  furs  in 
a  Mackinaw  'boat,  he  proceeded  to  the  mouth  of  the  Des 
Plaiies,  where  he  unloaded  his  keel-boat  and  built  a  de- 
pot for  his  pork,  leaving  the  same  in  charge  of  some  boat- 
men, while  he  went  through  with  his  Mackinaw  boat  by 
way  of  Summit  and  Mud  Lake  to  the  Chicago  River  and 
arrived  safely  at  Chicago  with  his  furs.  He  then  returned 
and  brought  his  pork  through  in  the  same  way,  thus  es- 
tablishing a  continuous  waterway  for  trade  between  the 
Great  Lakes  and  the  Mississippi  Valley. 

Transportation  by  land  was  attended  by  perils  of  an- 
other character.  There  is  in  existence  a  complaint  made  on 
September  i,  1829,  before  Alexander  Doyle,  a  Justice  of 
the  Peace  of  Peoria  County,  residing  at  Chicago,  by  one 
Peter  Lamsett,  that  having  in  the  month  of  June  preceding 
been  employed  by  one  Frederick  Countryman  to  haul  some 


115 


whiskey  from  Chicago  to  his  house,  say  three  barrels  for 
Countryman  and  a  half  barrel  of  sixteen  gallons  for  one 
Vermitt,  and  when  about  a  mile  this  side  of  the  River  Du 
Page  he  met  an  Indian  named  Half-day,  who  demanded  a 
dram,  but  was  refused  on  the  ground  the  whiskey  did  not 
belong  to  the  driver,  but  to  an  American.  They  then  part- 
ed, but  two  or  three  miles  farther  along  he  was  overtaken 
by  Half-day  and  two  other  Indians,  one  a  young  man  well 
painted,  and  the  third  dressed  in  a  soldier's  big  coat.  They 
drew  their  knives  and  with  force  seized  one  of  Country- 
man's barrels  and  poured  out  a  large  camp  kettle  full  and 
made  some  attempts  to  stab  the  driver.  When  about  three 
miles  from  the  River  Au  Sable  he  was  overtaken  by  the 
same  young  Indian  and  the  one  with  the  big  coat  with 
two  others,  who  ordered  him  to  stop  or  they  would  kill 
him  and  his  cattle  (doubtless  meaning  his  team  of  oxen). 
They  then  took  one  of  Countryman's  barrels  out  of  the 
wagon  and  filled  their  keg,  spilling  a  considerable  quantity 
in  so  doing,  the  whole  quantity  taken  and  wasted  being 
about  ten  or  eleven  gallons.  The  Indians  were  supposed 
to  be  Pottawattamies. 

Private  travel  was  performed  on  foot  or  on  horseback, 
the  missionaries,  judges  and  lawyers  generally  adopting  the 
latter  method.  At  what  time  stage-coaches  were  intro- 
duced between  Peoria  and  Chicago  does  not  appear  to  be 
definitely  known.  Steamboats  were  introduced  on  the 
Illinois  River  about  the  year  1832,  and  soon  afterwards 
attracted  the  travel  from  the  lake  region  to  the  Missis- 
sippi to  that  route  and  rendered  necessary  some  efficient 
means  of  transportation  by  land. 

My  paper  may  well  stop  at  the  year  1831,  when  Chi- 
cago ceased  to  be  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Peoria  County 
and  came  under  that  of  Putnam  and  new  conditions  began 
to  prevail.  From  that  time  until  the  year  1848,  both  Peoria 
and  Chicago  continued  to  thrive  principally  on  great  ex- 
pectations. The  great  internal  improvement  project  arose 
and  fell — at  one  time  raising  to  their  highest  pitch  the  hopes 
of  both  villages,  only  to  be  crushed  by  its  disastrous  fail- 
ure. Of  all  the  gigantic  enterprises  then  contemplated  the 
Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal  is  the  only  survivor.  The 
completion  of  this  great  public  work  brought  Peoria  and 
Chicago  into  new  relations  with  each  other  and  vastly  stim- 
ulated the  growth  of  each.  This  was  accomplished  on  May 
24,  1848,  and  was  the  occasion  of  great  rejoicing  at  both 


116 


places.  Railroad  communication  was  established  between 
Peoria  and  Chicago  on  November  9,  1854,  when  the  first 
passenger  train  came  from  Chicago  by  way  of  the  Chicago 
&  Rock  Island  Railroad  to  Bureau  Junction,  thence  by  the 
Peoria  &  Bureau  Valley  Railroad  to  Peoria.  Before  that 
time,  however,  a  road  had  been  chartered  and  partly  built 
from  Peoria  to  Oquawka  with  a  branch  to  Burlington, 
known  as  the  Peoria  &  Oquawka  Railroad.  This  branch 
was  finished  from  Galesburg  to  Burlington  in  March,  1855, 
and  having  become  united  with  the  Central  Military  Tract 
Road  and  other  roads  leading  from  Chicago  in  the  direction 
of  Quincy,  became  the  connecting  link  of  railroads  out  of 
which  grew  the  great  Chicago,  Burlington  &  Quincy 
system. 

The  Peoria  &  Oquawka  road  was  completed  through 
from  Peoria  to  Galesburg  by  February  i,  1857,  and  its 
eastern  extension  to  the  Chicago  &  Alton  at  Chenoa  about 
the  same  date,  thus  giving  Peoria  three  railroad  routes  to 
Chicago.  Communication  between  the  two  cities  can  now 
be  had  by  every  railroad  leading  from  Chicago  to  the  South 
and  Southwest.  Formerly  near  neighbors,  distant  from 
each  other  by  only  four  to  six  days'  travel,  they  are  now 
still  near  neighbors,  distant  from  each  other  by  only  so 
many  hours. 

A  century  has  elapsed  since  John  Kinzie  settled  in 
Chicago.  Within  that  century  Chicago,  by  reason  of  its 
natural  advantages,  has  grown  to  be  one  of  the  greatest 
cities  in  the  world.  Fifty  years  ago  its  population  was  not 
one-half  that  which  Peoria  has  to-day,  while  Peoria  had 
not  over  one-eighth  of  its  present  number.  What  the 
twentieth  century  has  in  store  for  each  of  .them  who  can 
foretell?  The  time  was  when  Peoria  had  sixteen  hundred 
landings  at  her  dock  per  year.  When  the  deep  waterway 
shall  'have  been  completed  and  vessels  of  large  tonnage 
shall  have  begun  to  ply  between  the  Great  Lakes  and  the 
Gulf,  she  may  again  have  as  many  or  more,  and  internal 
commerce  by  water  may  become  as  important  a  factor  in 
the  growth  of  cities  and  towns,  and  the  development  of 
the  country,  as  is  that  by  the  sea  and  the  Great  Lakes  at 
the  present  time.  In  the  completion  of  this  great  work 
both  Chicago  and  Peoria  are  mutually  interested,  and  from 
it  each  of  these  cities  will  reap  a  corresponding  benefit. 


117 


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